The US Senate will vote Thursday afternoon on a temporary measure aimed at avoiding a disruptive government funding lapse the next day, the chamber’s top Democrat said.
“We have just agreed to lock in an agreement and pass a bill tomorrow that will fund the government and avoid an unnecessary government shutdown,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement late Wednesday.
The measure, known as a continuing resolution, “will give Congress time to continue working on the appropriations process to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year,” he said.
Current government funding is set to expire in two phases on January 19 and February 2, but the new stopgap measure would push those deadlines back until early March.
“We hope that the House will take up this bill before the Friday deadline with bipartisan support,” Schumer added.
Fights over annual budgets are common in the US Congress, which often misses its September 30th deadline and resorts to temporary funding extensions.
Lawmakers had recently announced they had come to an agreement on fiscal year 2024 funding totals, establishing a roughly $1.6 trillion “topline” federal spending limit.
That deal, announced by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic leaders in Congress, includes an increase in Pentagon spending to some $886 billion and some $773 billion for non-defense discretionary funding.
Some right-wing members of Johnson’s party have voiced outrage at the deal, raising doubts over whether the House will be able to pass the funding quickly enough to avoid a shutdown.
The measure to be considered Thursday is separate from President Joe Biden’s supplemental request for more aid to Ukraine and Israel, which congressional Republicans have blocked until demands for changes to US immigration policy are met.
